Collecting decks by non-readers - is it OK ?

Scorpion said:

You and me both, Gregory. Got a year to spare for the British Museum sometime?! If I start at one end and you at the other, we could meet in the middle at the end of the year and compare notes! I see Tutankhamen is coming to the Dome in 2007.

Click to expand...

I thought the Dome was about to become something truly (=even more) awful; I am so fed up with it I forget what............ But I have to go to the BM as it is - unless anyone one on this group knows anything about ancient bronze figures..... allegedly from Burma. (No, I didn't collect them and I want to make them GO AWAY - but hopefully raising money for tarots on the way out the door !)

Scorpion said:

The "magic ingredient" that will go into your cards should you decide to start reading them is - YOU!

Click to expand...

AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH
Poor anyone I ever read for - including me......... OMG........

Feeling Guilty ?

Feeling guilty about collecting decks you might not end up using ??
Oh please, of all the things you could feel guilty about in life, this surely is on par with an extra bite of chocolate cake, or lower.

Stop beating yourself up and enjoy your collection. In fact I suggest you go out and add one of my decks to it, it will make you feel better. It will certainly make ME feel better.

Ah - all my favourite Tarot creators/writers (Tarotbear, Lee and now you Ciro) on one thread! Not that you've got a vested interest...

collectors serve a purpose

I have a friend who collects books. He doesn't read them, he just collects them.

Because he doesn't read them, they stay in excellent shape. His interest lies in preserving his books and in selecting them with great care and love.

Seems reasonable to me, although I buy books to read them (again and again). There is plenty of room in this world for folks who collect as well as folks who use.

This isn't the bad old days when a "library" was 200 books and a tarot collection was 4 decks.

Tarot cards as art....visual candy.....is a valid reason for collecting.

cirom said:

Feeling guilty about collecting decks you might not end up using ??
Oh please, of all the things you could feel guilty about in life, this surely is on par with an extra bite of chocolate cake, or lower.

Stop beating yourself up and enjoy your collection. In fact I suggest you go out and add one of my decks to it, it will make you feel better. It will certainly make ME feel better.

Click to expand...

Ciro....ROFLMAO!! I got my Gilded 3 days ago. Faaaabulous.

One thing that should be remembered is that many tarot decks weren't designed for divination as their intended use: e.g., the Marseille (which was created for playing the card game of tarot), the Visconti (as a wedding gift and work of art), the Thoth deck, the Ceremonial Magick Tarot, and arguably the Rider-Waite (as occult study decks).

Thus, a non-reader collector isn't necessarily failing to 'use' a deck if he or she doesn't use it for divination. Admiring the deck's art, symbolism and esoteric meanings (which collectors often do) could accord with a deck creator's intended use for the deck as much or more than someone who uses it for readings.

I can offer you redemption~ Mad Gregory!

I am sure there was a deck in your collection meant for me....otherwise I would not have found you here in cyberspace, and I am after all a real reader and would gladly help relieve your guilt.....

ok ok just kidding!!!!

I wonder if you felt guilty on your own Mad Gregory? or did some envious Tarot reader let you know that your * OOP tarot deck that you looked everywhere to find and then bought for more than you should of but you knew what it was and wanted it * was really meant for her/him?

Personally, my own little insignificant opinion, I think obsessive collecting something because it might be worth something one day is weird. I knew two brothers and they lived in this duplex and it was wall to wall with shelves lined with toys in the boxes. ONE DAY it will all be worth a fortune, they told me, look but DONT touch.... OK ;whatever guys...as I quickly exit the room!
If you collect because the object of your desire brings you joy, THAT i understand.
And what in the world is wrong with joy in the moment?

This is only started because tarot decks actually can be used for reading. But there are certainly plenty of things that folks collect which cannot be used for anything but having a collection of them. My collection of wooden puzzles springs to my mind here. So, I have no guilt about them because what else can they do but sit there waiting patiently for me to dust them.

I have a few decks and I occasionally feel a bit guilty because I don't/can't use them all. Only because, I could use them. I absolutely never feel even the tiniest bit guilty that someone else would have wanted one of my decks. As far as I can tell there is not a world-wide tarot deck shortage. And the really rare ones you big-time colectors go after, in general no one reads with those anyway. Once they reach the state of collectibility, they are just that, like wooden puzzles.

So, collect away! And I will too, on a smaller scale.
Marion

Ah, Mad Gregory, Why Have you not come to me before this?

I can solve your dilemma. What amount of decks does MickyMickyMike (sp?) feel that you, as a non-reader should be allowed to have? Subtract that from your total number of decks, and send me the overage.

Or you could just tell whats-his-name to sit on a pin and spin. Let the wastral buy his own decks, is what I say!!

I have about 100 decks myself, and used to feel kind of guilty because I don't read with all of them. Then I took a good look at the total arrogance of that expectation and got over myself--

Madame Fabulosa Fortuna knows all, reads with every deck ever printed...and balances on the head of a pin while doing so!!

Collect all you want, my dear--I know I shall continue to do so. The critics can take comfort in that it keeps all us Mad Old Grannies off the streets.

I think that idea is absurd...if you were "depriving someone of a deck" it would probably be a Limited Edition or OOP, whereas they wouldn't read with it anyway! (IMO)...I only have like 15 decks and I started adding to my "collection" because I was having trouble finding that perfect deck that I would click with (to read) but soon discovered the artwork is worth collecting all by itself. Why do people collect Barbie? Surely they aren't still playing with them (adults I mean)....I say, have fun!

Gregory - as you can see, I have had a sleepless night over this! I came to realise that MMM indeed has a point: all the Folchis in your collection that I don't already have were obviously MEANT FOR ME! That's what's been wrong all this time - and clearly why you found your way here!!! So I promise you, as soon as you've packed them all up and sent them winging their way to my neck of the woods your conscience will be clear!